Hank Wangford & Noel Dashwood – Promises Promises: Album Review

By John Barlass on 6th December 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

Foot Tappers and Heartbreakers from the grizzled godfather of UK alt-country and dobro wizard partner.

Release Date: 1^st December 2023

Label: $incere $ounds

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

Well – here’s an album that been a lo o o ong time in the making. Hank Wangford – unreformed hippie and “grizzled godfather of UK alt-country” and Noel Dashwood – dobro player extraordinaire and sometime partner to Norfolk chums Christina Alden and Alex Patterson (a pair that seem to be everywhere just right now…) first pooled their considerable resources just around the time that Mr Covid was thinking about embarking on his world tour. Their gigs had been well-received and they’d agreed that an album was a great idea – they had the material and they’d booked the studio; the only trouble was, Covid got very literally in the way.

A first effort at laying down the tracks that would become Promises Promises was blighted by the virus, to the extent that, in the words of both Hank and Noel, it was impossible to “fashion a whiff of silk purse out of the sad sow’s ear.” But, no matter. By January 2023, Covid was, if not a distant memory, sufficiently in retreat to allow the pair to have another go – and, second time around, they cracked it. And, as I’m so pleased to confirm, all the effort and frustration has been worth it – Promises Promises is a delightful album; a wonderfully laid-back collection of charming, gentle – yet often poignant – songs that are illuminated ever-so-brightly by some of the best dobro playing that you’re ever likely to hear.

With two exceptions, the songs on Promises Promises are all Hank’s. Promises Promises is an album of two distinct moods and the tracks are classified, respectively, as Toetappers (side one) and Heartbreakers (side two) – and this is an album that won’t be troubling those responsible for enforcing the Trades Descriptions act. Toetappers and Heartbreakers are what we’re promised, and Toetappers and Heartbreakers are what we get.

Promises Promises is an uncomplicated album; it’s recorded ‘live’ in the studio, without overdubs or unnecessary embellishment. Hank plays his prized Gretsch 1963 Double Anniversary electric guitar and his Mele baritone ukulele, as well as providing the lead vocals. Noel adds some smashing harmony vocals, ukulele bass and harmonica, but the things that turn Promises Promises into an album that’s really special are his contributions on his Asher lap steel and, particularly, his dobro.

And it’s that smooth, twangy dobro that provides the tasty intro to the ragtime Way of the World, the album’s opening track – a stoic, lighthearted view of the way our lives get shaped for us. Hank sounds a quarter of his age as he sings lyrics like: “Sea is smooth when we set sail, so why do always end up in the belly of the whale?” It’s humourous, it’s fun, and it’s absolutely enjoyable. And Hank continues on a lighthearted note for Oil (Black Gold), even though the subject matter this time is a tad more serious. To a pleasant country tune, Hank makes no bones about the inadvisability and unviability of continuing to burn fossil fuels and makes the valid point that, the sooner we convert to cleaner alternatives, the sooner the likes of Putin will be left high and dry.

Noel’s dobro is simply magnificent on Jump in a River, another gentle country-flavoured number. The lyrics are, ostensibly, about the frustrations that we all suffered during lockdown, but they soon venture into more adventurous territory as Hank considers dropping a tab of Orange Sunshine to escape the constraints of lockdown and relishes his psychedelic freedom, singing: “I think I’m gonna jump out of an aeroplane, dive down through the sky, see how I feel about freefall – might as well give it a try!”

Things return to earth somewhat for My Love is Gone, a song that Hank describes as “A sad little ukulele-written song of loss of innocent love.” It’s tuneful, pleasant – impossible, in fact, to dislike, before Hank and Noel demonstrate the appropriateness of their ‘toetappers’ description with Simple Pleasures. One of two songs on the album that are not Hank Wangford solo compositions – he worked this one into shape with the help of Reg Meuross – it chugs along nicely to a choppy acoustic guitar rhythm as you realise that tapping your foot isn’t an option – it’s an order!

And Fingers, the last of the album’s Toetappers, Is another jolly country frolic. Inspired by what Hank terms as Redneck philosophy, the lyrics are wonderful, and lines like: “The only thing I count on is my fingers, the only thing I bet on is my ass – The only thing that’s certain, when they drop the curtain, is I’ll head off to the sunset when they put me out to grass,” display an enviable acceptance of what lies in wait for all of us.

And so, on to the Heartbreakers, the weepies with which no album in the Country idiom can be without. Slippin’ Whisky is the oldest of Hank’s songs included here, written back in the seventies when Hank was plying his trade as doctor in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairies. It’s a thoughtful ballad that I can easily imagine being sung by Gram Parsons. A sad song of parting, Noel’s weepy dobro solo is divine and I love his sound effects as Hank drowns his sorrows with lines like: “Here I go again, slippin’ whisky in my beer, for it ain’t no use just hangin’ ‘round here.”

Let Her Go, a song “…about lies and our inability to tell a lover it’s over” is another atmospheric weepie. It’s perfectly crafted, with well-considered lyrics, and a prelude to the album’s only wholly non-original song. Listeners will probably be most familiar with the Conway Twitty song, Image of Me from the majestic version, sung by Gram Parsons, on the Burritos’ Burrito Deluxe album. There might be a slightly incongruous shred of contentment in Hank’s voice as he sings the song’s sad lyrics – he certainly doesn’t leave us on the verge of tears, like Gram did – but this is, nevertheless, a splendidly respectful version of a great song and, once again, Noel twangs the heartstrings with yet another scorching dobro solo.

“Call me a dreamer, or just an old fool,” Hank sings in the chorus to the wonderful Something in the Air, before going on to add “…if I still believe that love can be the Golden Rule.” Tongue-in-cheek, he muses in the album’s sleevenotes whether such sentiments are a heavenly vision or, maybe, just hippie shit. I prefer to believe that they’re the wise words of a wise old man – and, in any case – what’s WRONG with hippy shit??

And, to bring this fine album to its contented, mellow close, Hank has chosen a Country waltz – essential, as he firmly believes, in any collection of Country Heartbreakers. Promises Promises, the album’s title track, is a gem that made me consider the strong similarity between many characters in country ballads and most politicians – it seems that both are obsessively keen to make promises, whilst neither have any intention of keeping them. And Hank has that tendency summarized to a ‘tee’ as he says: “You can make ‘em, you can break ‘em – better take ‘em with a big pinch of salt; when a promise gets broken, you can say that it’s never your fault.”

Just a couple of points to close with, then: firstly – Promises Promises is a fantastic album and highly recommended; secondly – the picture on the CD is of a Cornish pasty, with Hank’s name baked into the pastry. I love it. And, finally – a Hank Wangford update: at the age of 83, Hank (or Dr. Sam Hutt, as, I suppose we should call him at this point) has finally retired from medical practice – but he’s still keeping up his involvement in his Womens’ Contraception Clinic in Transylvania, Romania. There’s no keeping a good man down and, happily, there’s no sign yet of him walking away from his music.

Watch the official video to Jump Inna River, a track from the album, here: